February 9, 2024 • 38 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, Tony Mandarich’s story was immortalized by two Sports Illustrated covers, one hailing Mandarich as “The Incredible Bulk” heading into the ’89 draft, and one in 1992 calling him “The NFL’s Incredible BUST,” as his four-year career in Green Bay came to an end. Here’s Tony Mandarich to share his story.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
and we tell stories about everything here on this show,
from the arts to sports, and from business to history
and everything in between, including your story. Send them to
our American Stories dot com. There's some of our favorites.
Tony Mandrich was considered the best offensive line prospect ever
(00:31):
during his collegiate career at Michigan State. Legendary college coach
Nick Saban, who was an assistant at the time at
Michigan State and who discovered Mandarridge, said that he was
quote probably the most dominant offensive lineman that I have
ever been around end quote. Mandrich entered the NFL as
the highest paid offensive lineman in league history. Then, Manderich's
(00:55):
story was immortalized by two Sports Illustrated covers, one hailing
him as the Incredible Bulk heading into the nineteen eighty
nine draft, and then one in nineteen ninety two calling
him the NFL's Incredible Bust as his four year career
in Green Bay came to a halting end. Here is
(01:15):
Mandrich to share his story.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Growing up was actually fantastic for me. I had a
great childhood, great parents, great siblings, and ironically, although we're
talking about our American stories.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
I am Canadian, but I've spent most of.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
My years now fifty three years old, most of my
life has been spent stayside, and so growing up in Canada,
to say that you played street hockey or you know,
on the road, you know, in your neighborhood was a
common thing, and you know, watching a lot of hockey
and things like that. A lot of the stereotypes that
(01:58):
Americans have, and I think just people of Canada are true,
very liberal country. Tons of first generation immigrants, which my
parents were. My parents came over in nineteen fifty five
to escape communism from former Yugoslavia and to start a
(02:19):
better life for their family and kids, and that's basically
what they did. So, you know, my childhood was great.
It was just it was in the Greater Toronto area.
We're forty five minute drive from Buffalo, three hour drive
from Detroit. So when it came to NFL Sundays, I
(02:39):
got to see a lot of the Detroit Lions and
a lot of the Buffalo Bills. And then when it
came to college football, we'd see a lot of the
Big Ten.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Schools on TV.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
But you know, to sum up, my childhood, I would
say a very accurate phrase would be I definitely didn't
have everything I wanted, but I definitely had everything I needed.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
It was all a great experience.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
And then as you grow up into your adolescent years,
you start to have dreams. And I remember, at age eleven,
which is pretty young, my oldest daughter, I mean, my
youngest daughter right.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Now is twenty one.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
So when I saw her at eleven, it was kind
of a wake up call for me, because you don't
realize how young of a person that is when they're
that age. And when I think about it, it was
at eleven I took out a piece of paper and
wrote down what I was going to be when I
grew up, or what I wanted to be when I
(03:35):
grow up, and that was to become a professional football
player in the NFL and to be to become a
professional photographer. You know, for me, these things were normal.
As I grew older, I realized they weren't normal because
not everybody did the things that I did. Not everybody
took out a piece of paper and did short term, midterm,
(03:56):
long term goals. For me, it was like, I don't
know why I did that. It seemed natural and then
you know, and then I would at the end of
the three months for the short term goals, if I'm
not reaching those goals the short term goals, I need
to find out why. And if I don't know why,
then I need to reset my short term goals and
reset my midterm goals, because my long term ones still
(04:19):
might be the end game of making it to the
NFL and then becoming a photographer or whatever. I had
three years under my belt in Canada of high school football,
so by.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
The end of my junior year.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
It was like, you know, and we're talking nineteen eighty
two nineteen eighty three, there wasn't very many American colleges
coming up to Canada to recruit potential football players. Yes,
there was for hockey, but not so much for football,
because you know, high school football and college football and
pro football, those pinnacles are all stateside. If you really
(04:58):
want to be honest, I mean, let's not kidding. If
you want to If you if your football is your dream,
you got to go stateside. If hockey is your dream,
you know, I hope you're born in Canada, so it's
it's it's interesting. And I knew that after that third year.
Both my brother and I knew that we needed to
(05:18):
make some kind of a decision that was gonna help
me get exposure and some American coaching in Ohio at
that time, where I ended up going for my senior
year high school. You know, Ohio was one of the
what they called the Big three, one of the big
three states for high school football. It was Ohio, Pennsylvania,
(05:39):
and Florida were the three biggest kind of states. So
my brother was going to Kent State University at the
time in Ohio and Kent, Ohio, and we were kicking
them around the idea of me coming down there for
my senior year living with him, and he was going
(05:59):
into a senior year of college, and I was going
I would be going into my senior year of high
school and for the really the sole purpose of getting
exposure and getting some American coaching to you know, become
a better football player. You know, we talked about it
with my parents and you know, they were like, if
(06:21):
that's what you really really want to do, and they
knew I wanted to had been it was my whole life.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
It was that's all I talked about.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
And you know, my brother, you know, a huge kudos
to him for, you know, taking a sacrifice of bringing
on your little brothers and a senior in high school
and you're and he's a big man on campus as
a football player because he was having a very good career,
ended up getting drafted in the first round in the
Canadian Football League. So you know, he he wanted what
(06:50):
was for the greater good of his younger brother and
Kent Roosevelt High School had four or five athletes that
were being recruited for full scholarships to Division one schools.
So that was great for me because that would bring
those scouts to our games. And then hopefully then it
was up to me. Then now you need to get
(07:12):
yourself noticed by playing above and beyond what you think
you can play.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
And when we continue more of the life of Tony
Manderich in his own words here on our American Stories. Folks,
if you love the stories we tell about this great country,
and especially the stories of America's rich past, know that
all of our stories about American history, from war to innovation,
(07:40):
culture and faith are brought to us by the great
folks at Hillsdale College, a place where students study all
the things that are beautiful in life and all the
things that are good in life. And if you can't
get to Hillsdale, Hillsdale will come to you with their
free and terrific online courses. Go to Hillsdale dot edu
to learn more. And we continue with our American stories
(08:12):
and the story of Tony Manderish who went from being
one of the all time great draft picks to well
bus town and his life story, well, it's instructive on
so many levels and so compelling. Let's return to Tony
Manderisch in his own words about his own American story.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Pieces fell into place and I ended up getting a
scholarship offered at Michigan State. Nick Saban was the was
a defensive back coach at Michigan State at the time
and he in Ohio was his area. So when you know,
after several meetings with coach Saban when I was being
recruited out of Carolosevelt ended up signing with Michigan State.
(08:55):
And that was their offensive line was junior's going into
their senior year most of their starters, So coming in
as a freshman, the chances of starting are pretty low.
But if you get a year of experience under your
belt by getting red shirted by the second year, you know,
(09:15):
with all those guys graduating, the jobs up for anybody,
all those jobs. So that was like a major decision
for me on going there. Nick was a major decision.
The way he was, the way he was straightforward. There
was no bs, there was no salesmanship in it, there
was no sliminess about it, there was no it was
all straightforward. This is what we got, this is what
(09:38):
we can do for you, and this can potentially be
the result if you put the work in and I
understand that language, and then you know. The head coach
was George Perlis, who you know, was a four time
Super Bowl winner as a defensive coordinator at Pittsburgh in
the seventies. So that was a major decision because of George.
(09:59):
I was like, if I want to get to that level,
here's a guy, it's got four Super Bowl rings recently,
and he's going to be able to call a spade
a spade and say, look, Tony, you just ain't got it.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
You just don't have what it takes.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
And you know, and there's nothing you can do as
far as working at it that will make it better
because you just don't have the athletic ability you know,
he's the type of guy that would say that to you,
and he wouldn't say it to you in a malicious way.
He'd say it to it in an honest way. And
if he did think you had ability, he'd say, you
know what, you do have ability, but you have a
lot of work to do. So, you know, you get
(10:34):
there for camp, and once you got through camp, you know,
you pick a roommate. And I had a great roommate,
a great guy still you know, still keep in contact
with him, John Buddy. And so I kind of did
what I did when I was eleven. I pulled out
that piece of paper and started writing the goals for
(10:55):
the next five four to five years. And you know,
I wanted to become a starter. Then I wanted to
become all big ten. Then I wanted to become all American,
and then I wanted to be the first player taken.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
In the draft.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
And my roommate, whose brother at the time was playing
for the Kansas City Chiefs and his dad had played
for the Kansas City Chiefs, and I mean iconic family
as far as football in Kansas City and just phenomenal people.
He was like, what do you know, what are you writing,
or what are you doing? I said, just writing my
goals down and not only known this guy for two
(11:33):
three weeks, he wanted to read him. So usually that's
something I would not share with anybody. So I let
him read him and you could see his face expression
change as he got to the latter part of the list,
because that's where it was like, become the first player
taking it, become all American, then first player taken in
the draft, and he was like first player taking in
(11:58):
the draft. He's like, there's only one a year, And
I said, I know. I said, why not it be me?
And you know that phrase of why not me became
a very common phrase in my life, in my head,
in my vocabulary, if you will, So you know, every
decision I made, I would ask myself, you know, is
(12:22):
this get me closer to my goal? Or is this
a distraction? But I was very careful on the decisions
I made. And then if I saw like, oh, how
would I describe it an unstable crowd of people, I
had a choice to say, you know what, this is
(12:43):
going to escalate probably at some point tonight, and do
I really want to be around this and chance losing
my scholarship? And by getting involved with you know, my ego,
not backing down from somebody, cause I I might have
more to lose than they do. You know, the five
(13:05):
years I was at Michigan State, I chose to use steroids.
Not the best decision in the world.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
It was against NCAA rules, Yet I still chose to
use them because my gut feeling was that to make
it to the next level at my position, UH, you
pretty much have to use steroids.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
And that's not true. Although I believed it.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
That was something that uh, a topic that I would
not want to discuss with teammates or anybody, because I
knew it was wrong. And I thought it through, and
I thought about the worst potential thing that could happen,
and I was like, no, I'm still willing to pay
the consequence if that happens, cause I felt that if
I didn't do it, I wouldn't be giving it my all,
(13:55):
you know. And and did I cheat on drug tests? Yes,
I did in college to pass drug tests.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
You know. I was introduced to it by my brother.
You know, I thought about it.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
For months and then and that's where that desire to
become the greatest outweighed the desire of getting caught, there
was obviously suspicions, but then there was obviously phrases like yeah,
but do you see how he works out?
Speaker 3 (14:26):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (14:26):
But do you see that he's here before other people
work out, and then he does the workout that is
mandatory and then goes above and beyond does his own workout.
You know, Yeah, do you see that he stays here
later than when everybody when they leave, because he's you know,
doing film work or trying to get better at something. So,
(14:50):
you know, if steroids were the only thing that had
made me an All American, All Big Ten Lineman of
the Year twice, you know American twice, you know, finishing
in the running for the Outland Trophy, finishing and the
running for the Heisman Trophy, being drafted second overall. If
(15:10):
steroids were the only factor, then wouldn't most people have
that kind of result? And I think there's a certain,
you know, naiveness in society that you just take them
and stuff happens. Well, you can take them and do
nothing and nothing will happen. You have to do the work.
(15:34):
You have to do the work, regardless whether you're taking
them or not. You have to do the work and
you have to do it at a level that's higher
than you ever thought you could do it, and you
have to do it day in and day out. And
there's not many people that are willing to do that
type of work in society for any career.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
By Packers will make it official dron tackle Tony Mandrich
doubt about that one.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Well, when I you know, when I left college, I
had stopped taking the steroids because I knew the NFL's
testing system was much more sophisticated in college, and and
there was enough rumors going around about the steroids in
my name that I was like, you know what, I
need to disassociate myself with that and kind of get
(16:31):
away from it.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
So I did. But almost immediately within.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
A week, I had kind of you know, filled that
void with you know, painkillers. I was like, all of
a sudden, painkillers became I noticed when I took painkillers
a lot of the problems weren't as big as they
were before. I would swallow those seven or eight pain killers,
And the alcohol came into play fairly heavily when it
(16:56):
was difficult to get the prescriptions because the demand for
the prescription was you know, you can't fill a narcotic
too early, So then you try to get multiple doctors,
writing multiple scripts to different pharmacies, and it becomes a
full time job. You know, it consumes your life.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
You know it was.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Before I got sober, and even going into the last
three years of my drinking and drugging, I had been
kicked out of Green Bay in ninety two. I didn't
get sober till I was in March till March twenty
third to ninety five. And after leaving Green Bay, I
thought I can't get worse.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
And you've been listening to Tony Manderitch and boy, this
is real and this is raw, and you're thinking, my goodness,
how could a guy have blown it? How could he
have made that decision? But folks, we've all been there
Tony Manderich's real life story. When we continue here on
our American stories, and we continue here on our American stories,
(18:12):
you're listening to Tony Mandrich and my goodness, you've heard
the story of how he got into the NFL, into
the Green Bay Packers, and in the end, well, he
had to.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
Stop doing the steroids.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
He knew he'd get busted, and what he replaced it
with was opioids and ultimately alcohol, and boy, there's a
lot of pain involved in the NFL, especially training and
training through the bin, and so now he was an
addict of a different sort. Let's return to Tony Mandrich
and his story.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
After leaving Green Bay, I thought it can't get worse.
And then two months later, my brother had passed away
from terminal skin cancer. And nine to twelve months later,
after my brother passes away, my parents get divorced after
forty plus years of marriage, after everything they've gone through,
escaping from communist countries, coming to Canada with no money
(19:07):
and not knowing how to speak English and making it
that foundation was gone, and your hero and your mentor,
my brother was gone, and I was I guess it'd
be an understatement to say that I felt like an
(19:27):
epic fail was right there in front of me. And
you know, things kept getting worse, and I thought to myself,
you know what, I'm going to stop saying things can't
get worse, because every time I say it.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
Something bad happens. But it stayed bad.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
For another year, and then you know what changed it
for me was, you know, there was a conversation with
a good friend of mine that it was kind of
like the final catalyst that made me make a decision
on putting myself in treatment. But really boiling it down
to what it really was, it was emotional pain. It
(20:02):
was the the pain of guilt, the pain of shame,
the pain of letting people down. All those things had
become greater than the desire to get high. It was
(20:23):
consuming the desire to get high. It had overwhelmed that.
You know, getting high at one time was a solution
and it felt good, but at some point that solution
became the problem. And then you get yourself in a
situation where you know you can't live with it and
you can't live without it, and that's a tough one
(20:45):
because it's a catch twenty two and where do I
go from here? And you're a hamster on a hamster wheel.
And all I needed then was that catalyst of that
friend of mine reminding me that if you don't change
were you're doing, you're going to die. And I was
ready to hear it, and I was like, Okay, what
can we do about it? Because everything I've tried, in
(21:08):
every way I've tried to stop has failed, and I'm
not sure that it's in it for me, I'm not
sure that I'm supposed to get sober. And I never
ever was mad at God. I believe God the whole
in God the whole time. I was never mad at God.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
You know why me did? I never?
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Internally? I never played a victim, poor pitiful me. I
was like, no, you call spade a spade. Even when
I was messed up, I was like, you call a
spade a spade. Say what it is. You're a drug
addict went into treatment in a treatment center in Detroit.
You know, I always remember day five and day eleven
out of the seventeen days, or the two days I
remember the most because they were the most impactful. Day five,
(21:55):
we had a meeting with a counselor with like eight
page that were impatient, me being one of them, and
she said, before we start the meeting, she said, I
just want you all to take into consideration that your
best thinking and your best plans in life got you here.
(22:16):
And that was the Louisville slugger hitting me in the face.
I was like, wow, she's right, And at that time,
every decision I made in my life brought me to
that moment, sitting in that treatment center outside of Detroit,
and I thought, God, I could have picked California or
something nice. You know, I'm here into Detroit, you know.
(22:36):
And then at day day eleven, I started laughing again.
And I didn't think that that would happen, not really
in a genuine fashion. I thought that the fund was
pretty much over for the most part. But I'd rather
live a boring, sober life. Was better than living a miserable,
(22:59):
drinking and drugging life. I started laughing again, just from
us patients sharing stories amongst each other and some of
the nonsense that we had done. And you could relate
to the guy that worked for the municipality that was
running a back hoe digging ditches in Detroit. You could
totally relate to what he was saying. And here I
(23:22):
was a pro football player, and I understood exactly what
he was saying. And I understood exactly about his craving
of he couldn't wait to get off of work and
get home and you know, pop some pills and drink
some alcohol or get to the bar.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Whatever.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
The guy could relate. And there was politicians in there.
There was tall people, short people, fat people, skinny people, men, women, black, white, Asian,
any culture, you could think the disease did not discriminate.
It took people's lives, but we all shared a very
(23:56):
very common thing, and it was the majority already of
their people's stories we could relate to. You take away
a few things that have to do with a job,
circumstance or whatever, or what role they played in their
community or society, and you remove that eighty percent of
(24:17):
the rest of that person.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
You can relate to one.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
And feel their pain and feel their relief and feel
everything that they've gone through, and you're like, gosh, there's
you mean, there's other people out there that feel this
way and have gone through this and are going through this.
Because I thought I was unique and I was the
only one when we would laugh at that stuff. And
(24:42):
I remember on day eleven sitting on my bed and
the treatment center, and my stomach was hurting from laughing.
And that was the first that was probably the first
time in ten years that my I had hurt from laughing,
(25:04):
and I thought, you know, total opposite of what I
thought would ever happen. I forgot all about that feeling.
That's what that felt like. And then my next thought was,
you know, I'm not sure what's happening here. But whatever
it is, I'm digging my nails into it and I'm
not letting go. And then six seven days later I
(25:31):
had left treatment. It was a thirty day program. I
stayed seventeen. I was paying out of pocket and I
was running out of money, and you know, they said,
you know, we want you to stay thirty and I said, well,
if you're willing to pick up the tab, I'll stay thirty.
And of course, you know, they're running a business too,
(25:52):
and I understand, and I was like, you know, I
feel that I get it. I get it. It's pretty
crystal clear. And I'm sure that a lot of people
say that to you guys, and then two days later
they're back out using I said, but.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
I get it.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
And I know it's only been seventeen days. But these
instructions that you've given me for when I do leave
to do these things, I've already started making calls to
do these things and preparing. You know, when they did
the statistics of X amount of people percentages will stay
(26:35):
sober for you know, one week or less after they
leave treatment, and thirty days and less, six months less
and a year or less, we're staggering and then you
know it's like less than one percent of the people
will stay sober the rest of their life.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
And you've been listening to Tony Manderich, and my goodness,
the pain, the guilt, and the shame were overwhelming and
overwhelmed the desire to get high. Tony Mandich was ready
to change his life. And when we come back, we're
going to continue his story, Tony Manderich's remarkable story here
on our American Stories. And we continue with our American
(27:39):
stories and Tony Manderich's story. Let's pick up where we
last left off.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
When they did the statistics of X amount of people
percentages will stay sober for staggering, and you know it's
like less than one percent of the people will stay
sober the rest of their life. And for me, that
inner voice said why not me? Well, I mean, why
(28:05):
not why not me be the one that does that?
They needed, they need to fill a percentage, So I'll
fill that percent And.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
And I've been sober ever since.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
I think in the first five years I was well,
I know, the first five years I was sober, I
averaged a minimum of a meeting a day, a twelve
step meeting if and there were some days I'd go
to two and it wasn't like I'd go to them
because I felt like I was going to drink that day.
(28:37):
It was like I was going to them to grow
as a person, even sober. You know, you don't become
a saint just because you get sober. And when I
left treatment, I had no intention, zero intention of going.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
Back to play.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
I was so happy to be sober, because I thought
that was impossible. I was so happy to be sober
and actually laughing again. But man, a full time hit
and that weather hit, and that was football weather. I
was like, oh man, it's like I should be still
young enough. I could still play. And that desire started
(29:22):
to come back, and I started working out again and
you know, you know, steroids, no nothing, and was getting
stronger and everything was falling into place, and I thought,
you know, I could try to make some rights out
of the wrongs that I had done. There were some
wrongs that I had done that were just not capable
of making right, because there was they were just so
(29:43):
wrong and damaging. But I thought it at least go
make an attempt to go back if somebody even gives
you a chance, and kind of keep your mouth shut.
Earn your money for a change, and give that organization,
whichever organization that may be, everything you've got, leave nothing
(30:05):
on the plate. And I was lucky enough to get
that chance with Indie, and it made crystal clear with
them that they knew the whole story, and I told
them everything.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
I told them the truth.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
And I said, so, really, what you're getting is damaged
goods and you're taking a chance, And why should a
team take a chance on me? And I thought, you know,
And I thought to myself, you know, why should a
team take a chance on me? Because chances are I
wouldn't because I knew once I get a chance, now
(30:46):
I have a chance to make it. Just because they
sign it doesn't mean you make it, but it's a
step closer.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
And I know that if so Briany was.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
Impossible, happened. And I'm happy that football was a detail
because I already knew how to get there. I just
had to do it without the steroids, and I knew
that was possible. I knew the training techniques, I knew
the fundamentals, I knew the foot speed thing. I've been
(31:19):
doing it my whole life, and I just had to
start catching up because I was three years out of
the league, and even at twenty years old, you're starting
to get on the middle to latter part of a career.
But I had played four and then been out three
and you know, abusing my body with chemicals. So and
(31:40):
you know, at the end of three years of indie
it was time to retire because my shoulder had just
took a beating. Going into it, I looked at more
of it like just kind of make some amends, quiet amends,
make some things right that were wrong, say some internal demons,
and proved to yourself you can play without the use
of steroids. And those things happened. But in the bigger
(32:03):
scheme of things, and looking at the story and my
whole story, that is a crucial, crucial element to the
story that confirms and reiterates and that you know, sobriety
works and do things the right way and you don't
(32:24):
even have to be have a drug problem or alcalia,
just do things the right way the first time. See,
you don't have to go back if you ever get
the opportunity to go back in anything, in school, anything.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
There's a much easier way to live.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
So when I had retired ninety eight, nineteen ninety eight
from Indianapolis cause of my shoulder injury. I kind of
took well, I was gonna for I forced myself to
take a month off of really not doing anything or
looking for any kind of a job, and just to
kind of, you know, deprogram and just kind of take
a breath, because it seemed like it had been go,
(33:01):
go go since I walked into that treatment center. And
you know, that lasted about a week. And then I
just pull out a piece of paper and ask myself,
if I could be anywhere, live anywhere, and do anything,
where would it be and what would it be.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
The answers were.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
Either southern California, Arizona, or Nevada. And so really the
answer on paper was to move to Arizona and to
become a professional photographer, which to me means that's what
you're doing to make a living. And that's what I did.
(33:45):
And you know, you go from a multiple six figure salary,
you leave that multiple six figure salary and you make
thirty eight thousand dollars your next year doing what you love.
And a lot of people will say that that's not
the greatest move in the world, but the value of
(34:09):
being able to sleep at night carried more value than
the paycheck. And don't get me wrong. Paycheck is good
and to be able to sleep at night is good,
But if it comes down to one or the other,
I'd rather be able to sleep at night.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
But really, that's what I did. I followed what I
love to.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Do, and then it was like, figure out a way
to monetize it. And that's what I did. And there's been,
you know, great years of revenue and there's been not
so great years of revenue with photography, but it's been
in total relation to how much effort is put in
by me.
Speaker 3 (34:46):
So you know, it's fundamentals.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
And it makes me think of people like Nick Saban
and people like George Purlis, and these coaches that have
been which as those two coaches, but many more that
I haven't even mentioned that have influenced the rest of
my life via the football field because of how they taught.
(35:12):
And at that time when we were on the football field,
little did we know that they were not only teaching
us about football, but they were teaching us about life.
I know that they knew it, but when you're nineteen
twenty years old in your bulletproof, it's no this is
football coaching, and that's it, and they were football coaching.
(35:34):
But you take those fundamentals and you can apply them
to anything and you'll have success if you execute them.
That's why I think it's so important to share like that.
Everybody has a story, and I think it's one of
the most valuable things a person has is their story.
And a lot of people will say their story is insignificant,
(35:54):
and that's a bunch of bs, because everybody has a story,
and everybody's story matters because the biggest key is the
person that you're sharing or the people that you're sharing
your story with, if they can relate to your story.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
And I know they will.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
You know, Okay, they won't be able to relate to
go in a football camp for the most most part,
ninety nine percent of them won't, but they'll be able
to relate to ninety nine percent of the rest of
my story. Because pain is pain, you know, Emotional pain
is emotional pain. Whether you're you know, mom raising kids
at home, which is probably the toughest job in the world,
(36:35):
to construction worker, a pro athlete, engineer, an architect, doctor,
doesn't matter what it is.
Speaker 3 (36:43):
Pain is pain. And I used to think I was.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
Unique, which almost killed me, and that my pain would
be unique or was greater than other people's pain until
I got sober, and then I realized, you know.
Speaker 3 (37:01):
What, you know different than anybody.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
Everybody has hardships, and not everybody pulls through hardships. So
what's your decision? Do you want to pull through this?
If you do, what's your motivation? And if you don't
want to pull through this and kind of want to
lay low and you know, crawl in a cave and
kind of hide and live that kind of a life,
(37:25):
that's an option too. But that's not the way I
was wired. I was wired to try to make as
much right of the wrongs that I had done and
continue that, you know, the rest of your life.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
And what a story you've just heard. And we're talking
about Tony Manderitch's story. And by the way, what a
remarkable thing the Indianapolis Colts did. You're getting damaged goods,
he said to them, And you're going to have to
take a chance on me. And in the end, we've
got to take a chance on people, folks. Tony Manderitch's
story a remarkable Americans story, even though he was born
(38:01):
in Canada, This was indeed an American story. Here on
our American stories.
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
and we tell stories about everything here on this show,
from the arts to sports, and from business to history
and everything in between, including your story. Send them to
our American Stories dot com. There's some of our favorites.
Tony Mandrich was considered the best offensive line prospect ever
(00:31):
during his collegiate career at Michigan State. Legendary college coach
Nick Saban, who was an assistant at the time at
Michigan State and who discovered Mandarridge, said that he was
quote probably the most dominant offensive lineman that I have
ever been around end quote. Mandrich entered the NFL as
the highest paid offensive lineman in league history. Then, Manderich's
(00:55):
story was immortalized by two Sports Illustrated covers, one hailing
him as the Incredible Bulk heading into the nineteen eighty
nine draft, and then one in nineteen ninety two calling
him the NFL's Incredible Bust as his four year career
in Green Bay came to a halting end. Here is
(01:15):
Mandrich to share his story.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Growing up was actually fantastic for me. I had a
great childhood, great parents, great siblings, and ironically, although we're
talking about our American stories.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
I am Canadian, but I've spent most of.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
My years now fifty three years old, most of my
life has been spent stayside, and so growing up in Canada,
to say that you played street hockey or you know,
on the road, you know, in your neighborhood was a
common thing, and you know, watching a lot of hockey
and things like that. A lot of the stereotypes that
(01:58):
Americans have, and I think just people of Canada are true,
very liberal country. Tons of first generation immigrants, which my
parents were. My parents came over in nineteen fifty five
to escape communism from former Yugoslavia and to start a
(02:19):
better life for their family and kids, and that's basically
what they did. So, you know, my childhood was great.
It was just it was in the Greater Toronto area.
We're forty five minute drive from Buffalo, three hour drive
from Detroit. So when it came to NFL Sundays, I
(02:39):
got to see a lot of the Detroit Lions and
a lot of the Buffalo Bills. And then when it
came to college football, we'd see a lot of the
Big Ten.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Schools on TV.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
But you know, to sum up, my childhood, I would
say a very accurate phrase would be I definitely didn't
have everything I wanted, but I definitely had everything I needed.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
It was all a great experience.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
And then as you grow up into your adolescent years,
you start to have dreams. And I remember, at age eleven,
which is pretty young, my oldest daughter, I mean, my
youngest daughter right.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Now is twenty one.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
So when I saw her at eleven, it was kind
of a wake up call for me, because you don't
realize how young of a person that is when they're
that age. And when I think about it, it was
at eleven I took out a piece of paper and
wrote down what I was going to be when I
grew up, or what I wanted to be when I
(03:35):
grow up, and that was to become a professional football
player in the NFL and to be to become a
professional photographer. You know, for me, these things were normal.
As I grew older, I realized they weren't normal because
not everybody did the things that I did. Not everybody
took out a piece of paper and did short term, midterm,
(03:56):
long term goals. For me, it was like, I don't
know why I did that. It seemed natural and then
you know, and then I would at the end of
the three months for the short term goals, if I'm
not reaching those goals the short term goals, I need
to find out why. And if I don't know why,
then I need to reset my short term goals and
reset my midterm goals, because my long term ones still
(04:19):
might be the end game of making it to the
NFL and then becoming a photographer or whatever. I had
three years under my belt in Canada of high school football,
so by.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
The end of my junior year.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
It was like, you know, and we're talking nineteen eighty
two nineteen eighty three, there wasn't very many American colleges
coming up to Canada to recruit potential football players. Yes,
there was for hockey, but not so much for football,
because you know, high school football and college football and
pro football, those pinnacles are all stateside. If you really
(04:58):
want to be honest, I mean, let's not kidding. If
you want to If you if your football is your dream,
you got to go stateside. If hockey is your dream,
you know, I hope you're born in Canada, so it's
it's it's interesting. And I knew that after that third year.
Both my brother and I knew that we needed to
(05:18):
make some kind of a decision that was gonna help
me get exposure and some American coaching in Ohio at
that time, where I ended up going for my senior
year high school. You know, Ohio was one of the
what they called the Big three, one of the big
three states for high school football. It was Ohio, Pennsylvania,
(05:39):
and Florida were the three biggest kind of states. So
my brother was going to Kent State University at the
time in Ohio and Kent, Ohio, and we were kicking
them around the idea of me coming down there for
my senior year living with him, and he was going
(05:59):
into a senior year of college, and I was going
I would be going into my senior year of high
school and for the really the sole purpose of getting
exposure and getting some American coaching to you know, become
a better football player. You know, we talked about it
with my parents and you know, they were like, if
(06:21):
that's what you really really want to do, and they
knew I wanted to had been it was my whole life.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
It was that's all I talked about.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
And you know, my brother, you know, a huge kudos
to him for, you know, taking a sacrifice of bringing
on your little brothers and a senior in high school
and you're and he's a big man on campus as
a football player because he was having a very good career,
ended up getting drafted in the first round in the
Canadian Football League. So you know, he he wanted what
(06:50):
was for the greater good of his younger brother and
Kent Roosevelt High School had four or five athletes that
were being recruited for full scholarships to Division one schools.
So that was great for me because that would bring
those scouts to our games. And then hopefully then it
was up to me. Then now you need to get
(07:12):
yourself noticed by playing above and beyond what you think
you can play.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
And when we continue more of the life of Tony
Manderich in his own words here on our American Stories. Folks,
if you love the stories we tell about this great country,
and especially the stories of America's rich past, know that
all of our stories about American history, from war to innovation,
(07:40):
culture and faith are brought to us by the great
folks at Hillsdale College, a place where students study all
the things that are beautiful in life and all the
things that are good in life. And if you can't
get to Hillsdale, Hillsdale will come to you with their
free and terrific online courses. Go to Hillsdale dot edu
to learn more. And we continue with our American stories
(08:12):
and the story of Tony Manderish who went from being
one of the all time great draft picks to well
bus town and his life story, well, it's instructive on
so many levels and so compelling. Let's return to Tony
Manderisch in his own words about his own American story.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Pieces fell into place and I ended up getting a
scholarship offered at Michigan State. Nick Saban was the was
a defensive back coach at Michigan State at the time
and he in Ohio was his area. So when you know,
after several meetings with coach Saban when I was being
recruited out of Carolosevelt ended up signing with Michigan State.
(08:55):
And that was their offensive line was junior's going into
their senior year most of their starters, So coming in
as a freshman, the chances of starting are pretty low.
But if you get a year of experience under your
belt by getting red shirted by the second year, you know,
(09:15):
with all those guys graduating, the jobs up for anybody,
all those jobs. So that was like a major decision
for me on going there. Nick was a major decision.
The way he was, the way he was straightforward. There
was no bs, there was no salesmanship in it, there
was no sliminess about it, there was no it was
all straightforward. This is what we got, this is what
(09:38):
we can do for you, and this can potentially be
the result if you put the work in and I
understand that language, and then you know. The head coach
was George Perlis, who you know, was a four time
Super Bowl winner as a defensive coordinator at Pittsburgh in
the seventies. So that was a major decision because of George.
(09:59):
I was like, if I want to get to that level,
here's a guy, it's got four Super Bowl rings recently,
and he's going to be able to call a spade
a spade and say, look, Tony, you just ain't got it.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
You just don't have what it takes.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
And you know, and there's nothing you can do as
far as working at it that will make it better
because you just don't have the athletic ability you know,
he's the type of guy that would say that to you,
and he wouldn't say it to you in a malicious way.
He'd say it to it in an honest way. And
if he did think you had ability, he'd say, you
know what, you do have ability, but you have a
lot of work to do. So, you know, you get
(10:34):
there for camp, and once you got through camp, you know,
you pick a roommate. And I had a great roommate,
a great guy still you know, still keep in contact
with him, John Buddy. And so I kind of did
what I did when I was eleven. I pulled out
that piece of paper and started writing the goals for
(10:55):
the next five four to five years. And you know,
I wanted to become a starter. Then I wanted to
become all big ten. Then I wanted to become all American,
and then I wanted to be the first player taken.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
In the draft.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
And my roommate, whose brother at the time was playing
for the Kansas City Chiefs and his dad had played
for the Kansas City Chiefs, and I mean iconic family
as far as football in Kansas City and just phenomenal people.
He was like, what do you know, what are you writing,
or what are you doing? I said, just writing my
goals down and not only known this guy for two
(11:33):
three weeks, he wanted to read him. So usually that's
something I would not share with anybody. So I let
him read him and you could see his face expression
change as he got to the latter part of the list,
because that's where it was like, become the first player
taking it, become all American, then first player taken in
the draft, and he was like first player taking in
(11:58):
the draft. He's like, there's only one a year, And
I said, I know. I said, why not it be me?
And you know that phrase of why not me became
a very common phrase in my life, in my head,
in my vocabulary, if you will, So you know, every
decision I made, I would ask myself, you know, is
(12:22):
this get me closer to my goal? Or is this
a distraction? But I was very careful on the decisions
I made. And then if I saw like, oh, how
would I describe it an unstable crowd of people, I
had a choice to say, you know what, this is
(12:43):
going to escalate probably at some point tonight, and do
I really want to be around this and chance losing
my scholarship? And by getting involved with you know, my ego,
not backing down from somebody, cause I I might have
more to lose than they do. You know, the five
(13:05):
years I was at Michigan State, I chose to use steroids.
Not the best decision in the world.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
It was against NCAA rules, Yet I still chose to
use them because my gut feeling was that to make
it to the next level at my position, UH, you
pretty much have to use steroids.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
And that's not true. Although I believed it.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
That was something that uh, a topic that I would
not want to discuss with teammates or anybody, because I
knew it was wrong. And I thought it through, and
I thought about the worst potential thing that could happen,
and I was like, no, I'm still willing to pay
the consequence if that happens, cause I felt that if
I didn't do it, I wouldn't be giving it my all,
(13:55):
you know. And and did I cheat on drug tests? Yes,
I did in college to pass drug tests.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
You know. I was introduced to it by my brother.
You know, I thought about it.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
For months and then and that's where that desire to
become the greatest outweighed the desire of getting caught, there
was obviously suspicions, but then there was obviously phrases like yeah,
but do you see how he works out?
Speaker 3 (14:26):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (14:26):
But do you see that he's here before other people
work out, and then he does the workout that is
mandatory and then goes above and beyond does his own workout.
You know, Yeah, do you see that he stays here
later than when everybody when they leave, because he's you know,
doing film work or trying to get better at something. So,
(14:50):
you know, if steroids were the only thing that had
made me an All American, All Big Ten Lineman of
the Year twice, you know American twice, you know, finishing
in the running for the Outland Trophy, finishing and the
running for the Heisman Trophy, being drafted second overall. If
(15:10):
steroids were the only factor, then wouldn't most people have
that kind of result? And I think there's a certain,
you know, naiveness in society that you just take them
and stuff happens. Well, you can take them and do
nothing and nothing will happen. You have to do the work.
(15:34):
You have to do the work, regardless whether you're taking
them or not. You have to do the work and
you have to do it at a level that's higher
than you ever thought you could do it, and you
have to do it day in and day out. And
there's not many people that are willing to do that
type of work in society for any career.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
By Packers will make it official dron tackle Tony Mandrich
doubt about that one.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Well, when I you know, when I left college, I
had stopped taking the steroids because I knew the NFL's
testing system was much more sophisticated in college, and and
there was enough rumors going around about the steroids in
my name that I was like, you know what, I
need to disassociate myself with that and kind of get
(16:31):
away from it.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
So I did. But almost immediately within.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
A week, I had kind of you know, filled that
void with you know, painkillers. I was like, all of
a sudden, painkillers became I noticed when I took painkillers
a lot of the problems weren't as big as they
were before. I would swallow those seven or eight pain killers,
And the alcohol came into play fairly heavily when it
(16:56):
was difficult to get the prescriptions because the demand for
the prescription was you know, you can't fill a narcotic
too early, So then you try to get multiple doctors,
writing multiple scripts to different pharmacies, and it becomes a
full time job. You know, it consumes your life.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
You know it was.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Before I got sober, and even going into the last
three years of my drinking and drugging, I had been
kicked out of Green Bay in ninety two. I didn't
get sober till I was in March till March twenty
third to ninety five. And after leaving Green Bay, I
thought I can't get worse.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
And you've been listening to Tony Manderitch and boy, this
is real and this is raw, and you're thinking, my goodness,
how could a guy have blown it? How could he
have made that decision? But folks, we've all been there
Tony Manderich's real life story. When we continue here on
our American stories, and we continue here on our American stories,
(18:12):
you're listening to Tony Mandrich and my goodness, you've heard
the story of how he got into the NFL, into
the Green Bay Packers, and in the end, well, he
had to.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
Stop doing the steroids.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
He knew he'd get busted, and what he replaced it
with was opioids and ultimately alcohol, and boy, there's a
lot of pain involved in the NFL, especially training and
training through the bin, and so now he was an
addict of a different sort. Let's return to Tony Mandrich
and his story.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
After leaving Green Bay, I thought it can't get worse.
And then two months later, my brother had passed away
from terminal skin cancer. And nine to twelve months later,
after my brother passes away, my parents get divorced after
forty plus years of marriage, after everything they've gone through,
escaping from communist countries, coming to Canada with no money
(19:07):
and not knowing how to speak English and making it
that foundation was gone, and your hero and your mentor,
my brother was gone, and I was I guess it'd
be an understatement to say that I felt like an
(19:27):
epic fail was right there in front of me. And
you know, things kept getting worse, and I thought to myself,
you know what, I'm going to stop saying things can't
get worse, because every time I say it.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
Something bad happens. But it stayed bad.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
For another year, and then you know what changed it
for me was, you know, there was a conversation with
a good friend of mine that it was kind of
like the final catalyst that made me make a decision
on putting myself in treatment. But really boiling it down
to what it really was, it was emotional pain. It
(20:02):
was the the pain of guilt, the pain of shame,
the pain of letting people down. All those things had
become greater than the desire to get high. It was
(20:23):
consuming the desire to get high. It had overwhelmed that.
You know, getting high at one time was a solution
and it felt good, but at some point that solution
became the problem. And then you get yourself in a
situation where you know you can't live with it and
you can't live without it, and that's a tough one
(20:45):
because it's a catch twenty two and where do I
go from here? And you're a hamster on a hamster wheel.
And all I needed then was that catalyst of that
friend of mine reminding me that if you don't change
were you're doing, you're going to die. And I was
ready to hear it, and I was like, Okay, what
can we do about it? Because everything I've tried, in
(21:08):
every way I've tried to stop has failed, and I'm
not sure that it's in it for me, I'm not
sure that I'm supposed to get sober. And I never
ever was mad at God. I believe God the whole
in God the whole time. I was never mad at God.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
You know why me did? I never?
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Internally? I never played a victim, poor pitiful me. I
was like, no, you call spade a spade. Even when
I was messed up, I was like, you call a
spade a spade. Say what it is. You're a drug
addict went into treatment in a treatment center in Detroit.
You know, I always remember day five and day eleven
out of the seventeen days, or the two days I
remember the most because they were the most impactful. Day five,
(21:55):
we had a meeting with a counselor with like eight
page that were impatient, me being one of them, and
she said, before we start the meeting, she said, I
just want you all to take into consideration that your
best thinking and your best plans in life got you here.
(22:16):
And that was the Louisville slugger hitting me in the face.
I was like, wow, she's right, And at that time,
every decision I made in my life brought me to
that moment, sitting in that treatment center outside of Detroit,
and I thought, God, I could have picked California or
something nice. You know, I'm here into Detroit, you know.
(22:36):
And then at day day eleven, I started laughing again.
And I didn't think that that would happen, not really
in a genuine fashion. I thought that the fund was
pretty much over for the most part. But I'd rather
live a boring, sober life. Was better than living a miserable,
(22:59):
drinking and drugging life. I started laughing again, just from
us patients sharing stories amongst each other and some of
the nonsense that we had done. And you could relate
to the guy that worked for the municipality that was
running a back hoe digging ditches in Detroit. You could
totally relate to what he was saying. And here I
(23:22):
was a pro football player, and I understood exactly what
he was saying. And I understood exactly about his craving
of he couldn't wait to get off of work and
get home and you know, pop some pills and drink
some alcohol or get to the bar.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Whatever.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
The guy could relate. And there was politicians in there.
There was tall people, short people, fat people, skinny people, men, women, black, white, Asian,
any culture, you could think the disease did not discriminate.
It took people's lives, but we all shared a very
(23:56):
very common thing, and it was the majority already of
their people's stories we could relate to. You take away
a few things that have to do with a job,
circumstance or whatever, or what role they played in their
community or society, and you remove that eighty percent of
(24:17):
the rest of that person.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
You can relate to one.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
And feel their pain and feel their relief and feel
everything that they've gone through, and you're like, gosh, there's
you mean, there's other people out there that feel this
way and have gone through this and are going through this.
Because I thought I was unique and I was the
only one when we would laugh at that stuff. And
(24:42):
I remember on day eleven sitting on my bed and
the treatment center, and my stomach was hurting from laughing.
And that was the first that was probably the first
time in ten years that my I had hurt from laughing,
(25:04):
and I thought, you know, total opposite of what I
thought would ever happen. I forgot all about that feeling.
That's what that felt like. And then my next thought was,
you know, I'm not sure what's happening here. But whatever
it is, I'm digging my nails into it and I'm
not letting go. And then six seven days later I
(25:31):
had left treatment. It was a thirty day program. I
stayed seventeen. I was paying out of pocket and I
was running out of money, and you know, they said,
you know, we want you to stay thirty and I said, well,
if you're willing to pick up the tab, I'll stay thirty.
And of course, you know, they're running a business too,
(25:52):
and I understand, and I was like, you know, I
feel that I get it. I get it. It's pretty
crystal clear. And I'm sure that a lot of people
say that to you guys, and then two days later
they're back out using I said, but.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
I get it.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
And I know it's only been seventeen days. But these
instructions that you've given me for when I do leave
to do these things, I've already started making calls to
do these things and preparing. You know, when they did
the statistics of X amount of people percentages will stay
(26:35):
sober for you know, one week or less after they
leave treatment, and thirty days and less, six months less
and a year or less, we're staggering and then you
know it's like less than one percent of the people
will stay sober the rest of their life.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
And you've been listening to Tony Manderich, and my goodness,
the pain, the guilt, and the shame were overwhelming and
overwhelmed the desire to get high. Tony Mandich was ready
to change his life. And when we come back, we're
going to continue his story, Tony Manderich's remarkable story here
on our American Stories. And we continue with our American
(27:39):
stories and Tony Manderich's story. Let's pick up where we
last left off.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
When they did the statistics of X amount of people
percentages will stay sober for staggering, and you know it's
like less than one percent of the people will stay
sober the rest of their life. And for me, that
inner voice said why not me? Well, I mean, why
(28:05):
not why not me be the one that does that?
They needed, they need to fill a percentage, So I'll
fill that percent And.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
And I've been sober ever since.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
I think in the first five years I was well,
I know, the first five years I was sober, I
averaged a minimum of a meeting a day, a twelve
step meeting if and there were some days I'd go
to two and it wasn't like I'd go to them
because I felt like I was going to drink that day.
(28:37):
It was like I was going to them to grow
as a person, even sober. You know, you don't become
a saint just because you get sober. And when I
left treatment, I had no intention, zero intention of going.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
Back to play.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
I was so happy to be sober, because I thought
that was impossible. I was so happy to be sober
and actually laughing again. But man, a full time hit
and that weather hit, and that was football weather. I
was like, oh man, it's like I should be still
young enough. I could still play. And that desire started
(29:22):
to come back, and I started working out again and
you know, you know, steroids, no nothing, and was getting
stronger and everything was falling into place, and I thought,
you know, I could try to make some rights out
of the wrongs that I had done. There were some
wrongs that I had done that were just not capable
of making right, because there was they were just so
(29:43):
wrong and damaging. But I thought it at least go
make an attempt to go back if somebody even gives
you a chance, and kind of keep your mouth shut.
Earn your money for a change, and give that organization,
whichever organization that may be, everything you've got, leave nothing
(30:05):
on the plate. And I was lucky enough to get
that chance with Indie, and it made crystal clear with
them that they knew the whole story, and I told
them everything.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
I told them the truth.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
And I said, so, really, what you're getting is damaged
goods and you're taking a chance, And why should a
team take a chance on me? And I thought, you know,
And I thought to myself, you know, why should a
team take a chance on me? Because chances are I
wouldn't because I knew once I get a chance, now
(30:46):
I have a chance to make it. Just because they
sign it doesn't mean you make it, but it's a
step closer.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
And I know that if so Briany was.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
Impossible, happened. And I'm happy that football was a detail
because I already knew how to get there. I just
had to do it without the steroids, and I knew
that was possible. I knew the training techniques, I knew
the fundamentals, I knew the foot speed thing. I've been
(31:19):
doing it my whole life, and I just had to
start catching up because I was three years out of
the league, and even at twenty years old, you're starting
to get on the middle to latter part of a career.
But I had played four and then been out three
and you know, abusing my body with chemicals. So and
(31:40):
you know, at the end of three years of indie
it was time to retire because my shoulder had just
took a beating. Going into it, I looked at more
of it like just kind of make some amends, quiet amends,
make some things right that were wrong, say some internal demons,
and proved to yourself you can play without the use
of steroids. And those things happened. But in the bigger
(32:03):
scheme of things, and looking at the story and my
whole story, that is a crucial, crucial element to the
story that confirms and reiterates and that you know, sobriety
works and do things the right way and you don't
(32:24):
even have to be have a drug problem or alcalia,
just do things the right way the first time. See,
you don't have to go back if you ever get
the opportunity to go back in anything, in school, anything.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
There's a much easier way to live.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
So when I had retired ninety eight, nineteen ninety eight
from Indianapolis cause of my shoulder injury. I kind of
took well, I was gonna for I forced myself to
take a month off of really not doing anything or
looking for any kind of a job, and just to
kind of, you know, deprogram and just kind of take
a breath, because it seemed like it had been go,
(33:01):
go go since I walked into that treatment center. And
you know, that lasted about a week. And then I
just pull out a piece of paper and ask myself,
if I could be anywhere, live anywhere, and do anything,
where would it be and what would it be.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
The answers were.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
Either southern California, Arizona, or Nevada. And so really the
answer on paper was to move to Arizona and to
become a professional photographer, which to me means that's what
you're doing to make a living. And that's what I did.
(33:45):
And you know, you go from a multiple six figure salary,
you leave that multiple six figure salary and you make
thirty eight thousand dollars your next year doing what you love.
And a lot of people will say that that's not
the greatest move in the world, but the value of
(34:09):
being able to sleep at night carried more value than
the paycheck. And don't get me wrong. Paycheck is good
and to be able to sleep at night is good,
But if it comes down to one or the other,
I'd rather be able to sleep at night.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
But really, that's what I did. I followed what I
love to.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Do, and then it was like, figure out a way
to monetize it. And that's what I did. And there's been,
you know, great years of revenue and there's been not
so great years of revenue with photography, but it's been
in total relation to how much effort is put in
by me.
Speaker 3 (34:46):
So you know, it's fundamentals.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
And it makes me think of people like Nick Saban
and people like George Purlis, and these coaches that have
been which as those two coaches, but many more that
I haven't even mentioned that have influenced the rest of
my life via the football field because of how they taught.
(35:12):
And at that time when we were on the football field,
little did we know that they were not only teaching
us about football, but they were teaching us about life.
I know that they knew it, but when you're nineteen
twenty years old in your bulletproof, it's no this is
football coaching, and that's it, and they were football coaching.
(35:34):
But you take those fundamentals and you can apply them
to anything and you'll have success if you execute them.
That's why I think it's so important to share like that.
Everybody has a story, and I think it's one of
the most valuable things a person has is their story.
And a lot of people will say their story is insignificant,
(35:54):
and that's a bunch of bs, because everybody has a story,
and everybody's story matters because the biggest key is the
person that you're sharing or the people that you're sharing
your story with, if they can relate to your story.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
And I know they will.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
You know, Okay, they won't be able to relate to
go in a football camp for the most most part,
ninety nine percent of them won't, but they'll be able
to relate to ninety nine percent of the rest of
my story. Because pain is pain, you know, Emotional pain
is emotional pain. Whether you're you know, mom raising kids
at home, which is probably the toughest job in the world,
(36:35):
to construction worker, a pro athlete, engineer, an architect, doctor,
doesn't matter what it is.
Speaker 3 (36:43):
Pain is pain. And I used to think I was.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
Unique, which almost killed me, and that my pain would
be unique or was greater than other people's pain until
I got sober, and then I realized, you know.
Speaker 3 (37:01):
What, you know different than anybody.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
Everybody has hardships, and not everybody pulls through hardships. So
what's your decision? Do you want to pull through this?
If you do, what's your motivation? And if you don't
want to pull through this and kind of want to
lay low and you know, crawl in a cave and
kind of hide and live that kind of a life,
(37:25):
that's an option too. But that's not the way I
was wired. I was wired to try to make as
much right of the wrongs that I had done and
continue that, you know, the rest of your life.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
And what a story you've just heard. And we're talking
about Tony Manderitch's story. And by the way, what a
remarkable thing the Indianapolis Colts did. You're getting damaged goods,
he said to them, And you're going to have to
take a chance on me. And in the end, we've
got to take a chance on people, folks. Tony Manderitch's
story a remarkable Americans story, even though he was born
(38:01):
in Canada, This was indeed an American story. Here on
our American stories.
Host
Lee Habeeb
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